Taking as its starting point Nancy's and Barthes' concepts of myth, this thesis investigates discourses around community, democracy, 'origin' and 'Western identity' in stage adaptations of 'classical' Greek tragedy on contemporary European stages. It addresses the ways in which the theatre produces and perpetuates the myth of 'classical' Greece as the 'origin' of Europe and how this narrative raises issues around the possibility of a transnational European community. Each chapter explores a pivotal problem around community in modern appropriations of Greek tragedy: Chapter 1 analyses the notion of collectivity as produced by approaches to the Greek chorus. It investigates shifting paradigms from Schiller to twentieth-century avant-garde experiments and focuses on case studies by Müller, Vinaver, Ravenhill and others. Chapter 2 explores the representation of violence and sex, assessing the 'obscene' as a historically-constructed notion, comprising those segments of reality that are deemed unsuitable for public consumption in a given cultural context. Through a comparative analysis of five adaptations of the myth of Phaedra - from Euripides to Sarah Kane - it assesses changing attitudes towards 'obscenity', touching upon legal, aesthetic and moral issues. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the limits of representation in relation to censorship through Castellucci's Purgatorio and Warlikowski's (A)pollonia. Chapter 3 explores the myth of the simultaneous birth of theatre and democracy in 'classical' Athens and investigates the ideological assumptions implied by imagining the audience as the demos of democracy. It argues that adaptations of Greek tragedy have been used in the 'democratic' West to achieve self-definition in the context of globalization and European 'transnationalisation'. This idea is explored through adaptations of Aeschylus's The Persians, which defined 'democratic' Athens in opposition to the 'barbarians'. Works by Sellars, Bieito, Gotscheff and Rimini Protokoll are discussed in this context. The thesis concludes with an analysis of Rimini Protokoll's Prometheus in Athens.

Quality professional development is essential to enhance and sustain teacher efficacy. In a Southeastern school district, content-based, job-embedded professional development was not practiced or available for secondary school choral teachers. The purpose of this research was to discover the perceptions that choral teachers possess about what constitutes quality professional development. Guided by Bruner's constructivist approach, Knowles' concept of andragogy, and DuFour's professional development practices, this study examined the connection between these 3 ideas and supplied the foundation for the development of a professional development program. Using a case study design, data were collected through interviews and lesson plan documents from 9 secondary school choral teachers. The data were coded by hand and analyzed using an inductive approach. The key results were that the secondary school choral teachers desire quality professional development, characterized by content-based subject matter and collaborative delivery methods. A project of customized content-based choral music was constructed using teacher collaboration and mentoring as critical components of the delivery system. This study has implications for positive social change by providing professional development that addresses the needs and desires of the educators and increases their knowledge and skills. The project can perform as a prototype for professional development in other academic disciplines.

The movements of Western Chorus Frogs, Pseudacris triseriata triseriata, were studied from May 1, 1975, to May 16, 1975, on the Robert H. and Esther L. Cooper Woodland Area near Muncie, Delaware County, Indiana. The purpose of the study was to obtain detailed information on the day-to-day and hour-to-hour movements and habitat selection of the species immediately following the breeding season.Five Chorus Frogs were tagged with approximately 50 μc Co60 , and were released at a common point near a forest grassland interface. Study frogs were then located at two hour intervals for several 24-hour or 48-hour periods by searching the area of previous contact with a portable survey meter equipped with a scintillation probe.Horizontal movements are apparently random in direction and not influenced by habitat or meteorologic conditions other than moisture. They occur during daylight hours and at night and seem only to be influenced by moisture conditions of the microhabitat.Vertical movements are also influenced by moisture conditions, and occur primarily just before and after dawn.Chorus Frog preference for either a grassland or forest habitat was not determined by this study.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306

There¡¦s a great diversity of religions in Taiwan. Some religious art organizations like choruses have developed stably also. The management and concepts of these religious choruses are different from the others. In this study, the researcher will analyze the management of ¡§Bliss and Wisdom Praise Chorus,¡¨ which belongs to Taipei Buddhism Bliss and Wisdom Foundation, to investigate its uniqueness. Qualitative method is used in this study. Literature reviews about nonprofit organization and in-depth interview with Bliss and Wisdom Praise Chorus managers are two basic methods to collect data. They are analyzed with CORPS model and adjusted with experts¡¦ opinions through Delphi technique. The researcher, then, raises some suggestions according to these analyses. The conclusions of this study shows that: the key ¡¨Clients¡¨ of Bliss and Wisdom Praise Chorus are its followers; the Chorus ¡§Operates¡¨ as an amateur performing arts organization, and lacks for professional managers; the Chorus¡¦s ¡§Resources¡¨ mainly come from the donation of its followers; most of the ¡§Participants¡¨ are also the followers; their ¡§Services¡¨ can help them get close to religion by practicing sing and attract outsiders. This study suggests that Bliss and Wisdom Praise Chorus should enhance their marketing strategies, seek and keep talents, establish professional management system, stabilize human resources management, and increase affiliations with outsider.

Multiculturalism is one of the major trends in the choral education of the Twenty-first Century. Choral conductors attempt to capture diverse repertories from around the world. Japan, a country not very distant from Taiwan, is full of splendid choral development and composing achievements. Ko Matsushita is a Japanese choral conductor, composer, and educator. He is the conductor of ten choirs that have won many international choral competitions in the last decade. He also won the Carl Orff Composer Award two times. Matsushita was awarded the honor of the Robert Edler Prize in 2005 for his outstanding work in promoting choral music. Anthology of Love is a suite for female chorus with piano accompaniment. It was premiered in October 2003, and was published by KAWAI in August 2004. This suite contains four pieces: Somewhere or Other, Malayan Love Songs, A Poem for April, and Last Song of a Poet. These songs trace four different stages of love in human life: innocent, attractive, matured, and heroic love. All the Japanese lyrics in this work are taken from Shuntaro Tanikawa¡¦s poem collections. The piano accompaniment can play an important part in the music but requires a performer with advanced technique to deliver that result. This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One is the Introduction. Chapter Two discusses the background of Matsushita: Part One is a biographic sketch of Matsushita¡¦s life; Part Two introduces the musical style and characteristics of Matsushita¡¦s female choral works. Chapter Three focuses on the origin of lyrics and analysis of these four pieces. Chapter Four supplies rehearsal techniques and teaching suggestions for conductors. The diction fundamentals of Japanese and pronunciation of the lyrics are also included in this chapter. Chapter Five is the Conclusion. There are three appendices at the end of this thesis. Appendix A supplies four letters from Matsushita. Appendix B is a list of Matsushita¡¦s published choral works. Appendix C contains the translation and the Romanization of the Japanese lyrics for these four pieces.

Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 50 pages. / Thesis (M.A.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to review and summarize selected choral music education research published between 1996-2002. Four major research surveys in this area were previously published by Gonzo (1973), Hylton (1983), Phillips (1992), and Grant and Norris (1998). Each of these authors stressed a need for research in all areas of choral music education beyond the dissertation level and called for research that mimicked "real-world" experiences that would benefit choral music educators. This study investigated the following: (a) whether research studies in choral music education have increased beyond doctoral dissertation studies; (b) whether previous research studies have been replicated and/or expanded; and (c) whether current research attempted to solve real-world problems in choral music education. After reviewing the selected literature, the author categorized it into the following broad areas: (a) vocal technique/pedagogy, (b) descriptive studies, and (c) assessment/evaluation. The literature was identified in reviews of American, professional peer-reviewed journals by way of computer database searches in ERIC, Education Abstracts, Humanities Abstracts, International Index to Music Periodicals, RILM Music Abstracts, and Wilson Select Plus. Due to the nature and scope of the study, the literature excluded doctoral dissertations unless they were later published in American, peer-reviewed journals. Notable findings in this literature review include: (a) a current trend toward more choral music education research in general, both at the doctoral level and beyond, (b) continued studies on vocal pedagogy and rehearsal/conducting techniques, (c) increased studies on curriculum and assessment, and (d) increased numbers of experimental studies. Though the research has shifted from primarily dissertation studies, most of these were preliminary in nature and need to be expanded and/or replicated. In addition, a larger variety of research methods are needed, especially longitudinal and qualitative studies. Although choral music education studies are more organized and systematic than in the past, many areas are yet unexplored and many questions remain unanswered. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Quality professional development is essential to enhance and sustain teacher efficacy. In a Southeastern school district, content-based, job-embedded professional development was not practiced or available for secondary school choral teachers. The purpose of this research was to discover the perceptions that choral teachers possess about what constitutes quality professional development. Guided by Bruner's constructivist approach, Knowles' concept of andragogy, and DuFour's professional development practices, this study examined the connection between these 3 ideas and supplied the foundation for the development of a professional development program. Using a case study design, data were collected through interviews and lesson plan documents from 9 secondary school choral teachers. The data were coded by hand and analyzed using an inductive approach. The key results were that the secondary school choral teachers desire quality professional development, characterized by content-based subject matter and collaborative delivery methods. A project of customized content-based choral music was constructed using teacher collaboration and mentoring as critical components of the delivery system. This study has implications for positive social change by providing professional development that addresses the needs and desires of the educators and increases their knowledge and skills. The project can perform as a prototype for professional development in other academic disciplines.

The purpose of this study is to provide a guide for conductors when evaluating issues of balance in works for chorus and symphonic band, and to assist them in realizing such works in performance. The principal focus of the document will be an analysis of vocal and instrumental textures in Requiem by Frigyes Hidas as they affect balance and textual clarity, using accompaniment types described by Hawley Ades as guides. The analysis shows that the scoring helps mitigate balance problems commonly found in other works scored for similar forces, making a variety of performance options and interpretations available to conductors. Ensemble issues are discussed as they relate to balance, as are practical solutions regarding stage setup.

There has been a recent paradigm shift in the study of animal communication from examining interactions as dyads to considering interactions as occurring in a communication network. The dawn chorus of songbirds, a striking acoustic phenomenon, provides an ideal opportunity to study network communication because multiple singers are within range of each other, permitting eavesdropping by both males and females. I used a 16-microphone Acoustic Location System (ALS) to simultaneously record and analyse the dawn chorus in a population of black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) breeding in eastern Ontario. Males frequency-match neighbours 24% of the time at dawn, more often than expected by chance or during daytime singing interactions. The amount of matching between males from different over-wintering flocks is significantly greater than between flockmates. Males of the same winter dominance rank match significantly more than do males of disparate ranks. Male black-capped chickadees are interacting vocally with neighbours at dawn, using the dawn chorus to mediate social relationships in ways that suggest useful information is available to the network of male and female receivers. Matching levels are not related to distance between opponents. However, males with non-fertile mates move over larger areas while chorusing and are further from their nest than males with fertile mates, suggesting dawn mate guarding. Males with non-fertile mates spend more of their chorus near boundaries with fertile neighbours than non-fertile neighbours possibly positioning themselves to facilitate eavesdropping by fertile females. Male chickadees of high and low winter social rank do not differ in either the size of their communication network, or the way they use their songs when interacting with neighbours. Males match multiple neighbours both sequentially and simultaneously. Simultaneous matching is most often the result of a former flockmate joining an interaction between two males who had been in different winter flocks. High-ranked males join the interactions of their lower-ranked flockmates, preferentially when those males are matching other high-ranked males. The dawn chorus is an interactive communication network in which all males participate and is characterized by interactions between multiple senders and receivers with males eavesdropping on interactions in which they are not involved. / Thesis (Ph.D, Biology) -- Queen's University, 2008-09-17 15:07:56.276

The purpose of this study was to review and summarize selected choral music education research published between 1996-2002. Four major research surveys in this area were previously published by Gonzo (1973), Hylton (1983), Phillips (1992), and Grant and Norris (1998). Each of these authors stressed a need for research in all areas of choral music education beyond the dissertation level and called for research that mimicked "real-world" experiences that would benefit choral music educators. This study investigated the following: (a) whether research studies in choral music education have increased beyond doctoral dissertation studies; (b) whether previous research studies have been replicated and/or expanded; and (c) whether current research attempted to solve real-world problems in choral music education. After reviewing the selected literature, the author categorized it into the following broad areas: (a) vocal technique/pedagogy, (b) descriptive studies, and (c) assessment/evaluation. The literature was identified in reviews of American, professional peer-reviewed journals by way of computer database searches in ERIC, Education Abstracts, Humanities Abstracts, International Index to Music Periodicals, RILM Music Abstracts, and Wilson Select Plus. Due to the nature and scope of the study, the literature excluded doctoral dissertations unless they were later published in American, peer-reviewed journals. Notable findings in this literature review include: (a) a current trend toward more choral music education research in general, both at the doctoral level and beyond, (b) continued studies on vocal pedagogy and rehearsal/conducting techniques, (c) increased studies on curriculum and assessment, and (d) increased numbers of experimental studies. Though the research has shifted from primarily dissertation studies, most of these were preliminary in nature and need to be expanded and/or replicated. In addition, a larger variety of research methods are needed, especially longitudinal and qualitative studies. Although choral music education studies are more organized and systematic than in the past, many areas are yet unexplored and many questions remain unanswered.